


Seeing Red

by Shadowy_Dumbo_Octopus



Series: And They Were Lab Partners [3]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: (specifically Cyan), A bit of made-up info about hordak's race, Am I going to tag all my entrapdak fics with this? yes, Callbacks to other fics in the series, Canon Autistic Character, Entrapta has some things to settle with HPrime, F/M, Fluff, Hordak is a soft bastard, Horde Prime Is His Own Warning, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Nerds in Love, Nightmares, Protective Entrapta, Some angst, Trans Character, headcanons ahoy, villains in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:48:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21746089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowy_Dumbo_Octopus/pseuds/Shadowy_Dumbo_Octopus
Summary: Dissatisfied with the protection offered by her insect mask, Hordak makes Entrapta a new one. The reader learns a bit about Hordak's species, some light is shed on the fate of the clones, and what Horde Prime has been up to.Set an undetermined but relatively short period of time after "Starlight."
Relationships: Entrapta/Hordak (She-Ra)
Series: And They Were Lab Partners [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1548472
Comments: 27
Kudos: 112





	Seeing Red

Entrapta looked down at the box in her hands. It was slim, looking a bit like a box of those tiny chocolates she liked, and wrapped with almost military precision in silver paper. There was a big purple bow on top of it, too, and a tag with “Entrapta” written on it in neat, precise handwriting.

Yes, it was definitely something meant for her to have.

However, she just had to ask to be sure. Turning to her lab partner, who was regarding her expectantly with his hands behind his back and face a carefully composed mask of neutrality, she asked with wide eyes and a voice quivering with excitement: “Is this for me?”

Hordak nodded quickly, a little too quickly; he seemed to be as excited about the gift as she was, though he was trying very hard not to show it.

“Yes,” he confirmed, a slight blush colouring his cheeks. “I… I wanted to make something for you. After everything you have done for me,” he gestured at his exo-suit, “I felt like… I wanted to…” He cleared his throat nervously. Damnit, he was acting like a newly drafted cadet stumbling over his tongue in the presence of a commander. Why were words so hard?! “I wanted to do – to make - something for you, too.”

Entrapta beamed at him, pressing the box to her chest. Her eyes were doing that glittery thing again, making the nickname “starlight” a very appropriate one. Hordak felt like he could get lost in those eyes if he weren’t careful, drift in her purple universe until the end of his days. Not that he would mind; it sounded like a wonderful place to get lost in, of violet skies and planets made of crystal, scrap metal, and blueberry sponge cake.

“You’re the best, you know that?” she told him as she ripped through the wrapping paper, hands and hair making short work of the packaging. “What is it? A First Ones’ data crystal? A set of journals from Mystacor?” Her voice was rising in volume in pitch with every possibility, hair fluffing up with excitement. “A set of tools? A brand new miniature quantum repeater?” Finally, she all but tore the box open and fell quiet, her breath hitching in surprise as she lifted out the thing inside.

It was a mask.

“The one you are using currently does not offer adequate protection,” Hordak rushed to explain. “The chitin, although durable, offers significantly poorer protection than your previous mask, as well as lacks the majority of its additional functions. I have taken it upon myself to construct what I hope could be a suitable replacement.”

He tried to keep his voice steady to hide how absolutely and utterly terrified he was, but Entrapta’s prolonged silence wasn’t helping. Did she not like it? Maybe her new mask was fine as it was and she didn’t appreciate him implying that it wasn’t? Perhaps the design was wrong? Would it even fit? He waited with bated breath for the verdict.

The mask was made of some dark metal, with the bottom section lighter and somewhat resembling a grinning mouth. It reminded Entrapta of one of her robots, or that one illustration of the Cheshire Bat in her favourite copy of _“Alicia in the Kingdom of Wonders.”_ The lenses were round like in her first mask, and similarly red. There was also a small, diamond-shaped protrusion at the top of the mask with an even smaller circular button in the middle. When she pressed it, the section let out a beam of white light. Not too intense, but ideal for working in dark conditions.

Taking off her old mask, she put it on, noticing that Hordak bothered to add padding and noise absorbers; she hasn’t gotten around to adding those to the insect mask yet. The absorbers fit over her ears snugly, and when she snapped her fingers next to her ear, she couldn’t hear the sound. The texture was really nice, too, not too soft and not too hard, and the strap fit securely around the back of her head.

She lifted the mask, noticing the hinges moving smoothly and with ease, but clicking to keep it in place so that it wouldn’t accidentally fall over her face when she didn’t need it to. Satisfied, she lowered it, watching the world turn into the familiar, comforting shades of red. She missed this; the insect mask could only turn its lenses green or yellow, neither of which were too agreeable with her.

This new mask was expertly put together, the weld lines almost invisible and the metal finished to a high standard. When she took it off to examine it all over, Hordak finally gave up on trying to be quiet and patient.

“It’s octranite,” he blurted out, startling her a little. “Octranite is what the ships of Prime’s fleet were made of. It is approximately fifteen times more durable than titanium but a lot lighter, as you might have noticed. The lenses are reinforced strato-glass. Both materials can block a shard of metal launched at five hundred miles per hour and withstand the temperatures up to and including five thousand degrees. Octranite does not corrode and can only be cut with a high-energy laser beam. It is almost impossible to work with unless you have the necessary skills and equipment.”

“Strato-glass,” Entrapta repeated, gently caressing the mask’s surface with wonder. Both materials were completely new to her, and the fact that Hordak scavenged for them just for her made her heart speed up.

“It is the result of a meteor strike cooled down rapidly and under great pressure, turning the molten rock into a semi-crystalline material,” he explained. “According to my research, it took Horde scientists almost a century of non-stop research to find out how to alter its colour; it is normally clear.”

“Alter its colour?”

He pointed at one of the ear-pieces. Embedded in it were dials Entrapta hasn’t noticed before. They were almost unnoticeable until Hordak pressed one and turned, making the lenses turn from red to an array of different colours. Another, and they grew less saturated to the point of being completely clear. The third dial seemed to control visibility, dimming the glass until it was almost impossible to see through.

“I will leave the adjustments to you,” he took his hand away. “The dial on the other ear-piece controls the level of noise absorption, and the button right next to it retracts the bottom section of the mask.”

Entrapta tried both of them out, “ooooooohhhhh”ing when the light grey section indeed retreated into the rest of the mask, leaving her mouth exposed but the upper side of her face still covered. Handy for snacking, she reckoned, fiddling with the dials and watching the world shift from foggy white to grey to blue to foggy blue to orange to sort of pastel orange to clear to purple to red once again. This was so wonderful! Oh, she could already tell that she was going to spend hours tinkering with this little beauty.

Hordak cleared his throat, and she quickly brought down the noise absorption until she could hear him. “As for the power supply, it runs off your body heat and a series of small power crystals as an emergency in case the thermo-converter malfunctions or is somehow damaged. Neither of these things should happen, but one never knows.”

Alright, not hours. _Days._

The mask was, to put it shortly, a technological marvel. And it was for her! From Hordak! He made it for her and took the time to add all those neat little things he knew she would appreciate. There was an unfortunate lack of mini-tools her first mask had, but she reckoned that she could easily fit a few in if she took the time to do so.

“If you do not like it…” Hordak pressed his wings closer to his body, on all levels except the physical quaking with terror. “I mean, you are free to change and adjust it to your heart’s content and…”

“Hordak.”

“I acknowledge your competency as an engineer and do not wish to imply that you could not make a more superior model yourself, but I merely wished to…”

“Hordak.”

“Of course, you are more than capable of looking after your own safety…”

“Hordak!”

“And… and do not think that I consider this as some sort of payment for everything you have done for me.” His voice was growing quicker, more frantic. “You are brilliant and I love and respect you more than anyone I have ever met before. You do not even have to wear it if you do not wish to. You could take it apart for scrap parts or do whatever you want with it. If you do not like it, just say the word and I will incinerate it at once so that you would-“ He paused, then shook his head. “No, I cannot do that. I will launch it into space so that you do not ever have to look at it again if you do not-“

She kissed him.

Despite his fearsome reputation and an overall grumpy demeanour, her lab partner could be a real sweetheart, though he would violently deny it if anyone other than her even dared to insinuate such. He was also, as she had found out back on Prime’s flagship, extremely kissable. In fact, it was very difficult not to kiss him if he presented her with a certain trigger: an adorably grumpy pout, the way his ears moved when he was excitedly explaining to her the inner workings of his newest machine, the fluff-fest his hair became before he styled it or, like right now, when he just wouldn’t stop overthinking himself into oblivion if she didn’t kiss him.

So she did.

And it silenced him like a group of soldiers could be silenced by an exploding mine: quickly, mercilessly, and for good.

“I love it,” she told him as she moved away. Her voice quivered with excitement. “All of it. Every part. I love it and I will wear it forever.” Saying this, she snapped the mask over her face but retracted the bottom section so that he could see her smile.

Hordak blinked down at her, rather owlishly, looking like someone just whacked him on the head with a crowbar, his blush the colour of her hair. Entrapta liked to privately joke that smooching him when he was not expecting it was like turning a computer off and back on again.

_Hordak.exe stopped responding. Would you like to restart the system?_

She giggled.

Hordak finally seemed to finish rebooting because he shook his head like he was snapping out of a daze and straightened up, doing his best to appear dignified and not like an absolute and utter adorable dork.

“I am, ah, glad that it is up to your tastes,” he replied. “Once again, if you desire any adjustments…”

“I LOVE IT!” she threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and lifting herself on her hair to reach. Her voice pitched up from joy. “I know that I said this already like, twice, but I love it! It’s wonderful and comfy and changes colours and it’s made of space metal and it’s by you!”

He staggered back, returning the embrace instinctively, a small chuckle escaping from his throat. Entrapta’s joy was almost contagious at times.

They pulled apart, Entrapta bouncing a little on her twintails, a wide grin spread over her lips.

“This is the best gift I’ve ever received,” she told him, reaching up to touch the mask with a small blush on her cheeks. “Thank you.”

Hordak smiled that soft smile he only seemed to smile around her. “It suits you. Would you like to see the blueprints later on?”

“Are you kidding me? Of course!” Ooooooohhhh, she couldn’t wait to dive into the mask’s mysteries! For example, she has never heard of a system converting body heat into energy; after Horde Prime’s defeat, Etheria was left full of awesome space technology which she and Hordak were busy sinking their metaphorical teeth in. Already her robots were looking better than ever, and her wonderful precious brilliant adorable lab partner was showing her how to fly their little spaceship. There wasn’t a lot of room in there and it was designed more for attack than travel, but she quietly hoped that they could take it and explore the cosmos now that Etheria was no longer in Despondos. She has been meaning to ask Hordak about this but something else always came up.

Like now.

“Science first, though,” he held out his hand. “Shall we?”

Yes, before she could begin to tinker with this fascinating new project, they had a different one to work for.

Her smile turning just a teeny tiny touch more malicious, Entrapta took his hand. “We shall.”

~~~

They walked the twisting halls of Dryl hand in hand, talking about everything and nothing in particular. Hordak was eager to learn more about the biological structure of his species, explaining to her the differences between his DNA and an average Etherian’s.

“For example, a chiropterian’s saliva contains a mild anaesthetic,” he told her. “It is called sterophyzanine, I believe. My research suggests that it also serves as a disinfectant and encourages tissue regeneration, which leads me to believing that our race produces this bio-chemical as a basic medical aid in case they find themselves injured and with no immediate access to professional healthcare.”

Entrapta nodded, listening attentively. “It would only work for shallow wounds, though.” As she was talking, she was fiddling with her mask, clicking the hinges into place over and over. What a satisfying sound!

“Correct. Moderate to severe injuries would require more complex medical attention, but the likes of scrapes, splinters and papercuts can be healed relatively fast.” He glanced at what she was doing. “If you enjoy this sound, I could make you a stimming device if you wish.”

“Really?”

“Of course. Leave the blueprints with me and I will see what I can do.”

“You’re the best,” she hopped up to give him a peck on the cheek. “Back to your healing spit, do clones have it too?”

He looked dazed for a moment, but quickly composed himself. “I think… I think that Prime saw no reason to remove it from our genetic code.”

Speaking of clones, after Hordak destroyed the Hive Mind, the ones present on Etheria seemed to flock to him in search of guidance. Not that they saw him as their god or leader or anything; it’s just that he had the most experience with being an individual out of them all. Some have taken residence in Dryl, others in different kingdoms which welcomed them with mixed levels of warmth. Queen Glimmer, surprisingly, urged the Princess Alliance to accept them, stating that they had no choice but follow their leader’s orders and that the only one who was truly to blame for all the damage was Horde Prime.

“Where _is_ he, then?” Castaspella demanded, to which Glimmer only replied with an assurance that he was in capable hands.

If only she knew how capable…

“My lord! My lady!” Entrapta was pulled out of her thoughts by a familiar voice. One of the clones was approaching them, holding a file under her arm. Judging by the blue eyes (every clone seemed to have their own distinct eye colour, though she was yet to find one with eyes red like Hordak’s) and the pin attached to her tunic, it was Cyan.

Cyan used to be a class 2 oracle, meaning that she stored knowledge about different things in her memory chip and shared it with Prime when necessary. To put it shortly, she used to be a walking encyclopaedia. After Prime’s defeat, she discovered that she had no desire to further accumulate knowledge and instead turned to painting. However, Entrapta and Hordak had asked her to share as much information about their species as she was comfortable with.

She bowed quickly, handing Hordak the folder. “The information you requested, my lord.” The cover was decorated with hand-painted flowers.

Hordak nodded, skimming through the contents. “Yes, excellent job, Cyan. Thank you.”

She beamed, letting out a tiny gasp of joy at being called by her name, and proudly adjusted the pin holding her cloak (containing her name and preferred pronouns, something pretty common on Etheria. Double Trouble had one, too, though they seldom wore it.) “Thank _you,_ my lord. Is there anything else you need me for?”

“No, that will be all.”

Entrapta looked over Hordak’s shoulder to examine the painted flowers. They looked quite simple, like they were drawn by a child, but it was still evident that Cyan was making rapid progress in her newfound passion.

“Beautiful painting,” she remarked.

Cyan blushed, looking away. “Thank you, my lady. Hearing this brings me as much joy as the act of painting itself.” She was trying very hard not to start bouncing up and down with happiness like Entrapta did sometimes. She liked her a lot, even though her formal way of speaking sometimes reminded her of one of the tutors she had as a child before her human parents kicked him out and built her a robot one instead. That was before they were, well… before that explosion… Eh, no time to tinker with that particular can of flesh-eating robot worms.

With another bow, she left with a noticeable spring in her step. Despite the massive changes in the Crypto Castle’s routine and appearance, Entrapta was happy to see the clones around, even if she knew that her lab partner found the attention overwhelming at times.

“So, what’s in the folder?” she asked, trying to glimpse the contents.

Hordak closed it and tucked it under his arm. “Some linguistic notes and vocabulary,” he replied. “Even though being a clone means that we automatically understand any language we come into contact with, I would like to study my native tongue in more detail; I know how to use it, but not the history of the words, the grammatical rules et cetera. For example, the verb _to eat_ is _shivir._ It is conjugated as follows: _shiv, shivi, shivis, shivar, shivaig, shiven._ I know this, but I would not be able to explain it to someone who does not understand Chiropterian.”

“Oooooh, so you know that it works, but not how or why?”

“Precisely,” he nodded.

“Fascinating.” Entrapta didn’t have the head for foreign languages with the exception of the First Ones’ speech, and even that took her forever to learn. “Give me another example?”

“Of course.” He consulted the folder. “The word for _star_ is _milvir, _plural _milve,_ which is derived from an ancient legend about two gods, Milve and Silvah, who at the end died and became the stars and the sky respectively. This is why _milve_ is used for the plural, not the singular form of the noun.”

Wait wait wait. Entrapta’s eyes lit up. Hordak’s race had their own myths and legends? Would they have their own equivalents of _“Cinder,” “Alicia in the Kingdom of Wonders”_ or _“The Beauty and the Bot?”_ Of course, their fairy tales were probably different, but she made a mental note to look into them anyway. The story of Milve and Silvah sounded interesting, too.

“Is it something like a creation myth?” she asked.

Hordak shrugged. “Possibly. It sounds like one, but I have yet to delve deeper into the cultural aspects of my species.”

“Can I help you with your research? It sounds incredible!”

“If you wish to, by all means.” He smiled down at her, brilliant and imperfect and hers. Entrapta was suddenly struck by how dear he was to her. When she first broke into his sanctum back in the Fright Zone, he made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with her at first. Then, they started to work together on the portal and slowly, inevitably, began to grow closer. He told her about his “””defect””” and she made him a new armour. They were lab partners, then friends, then…

A sharp pang of pain shot through her heart. Then, Catra sent her away to Beast Island, spinning a lie about her being a traitor who let the Princesses in and using them as a distraction to open the unstable portal. Hordak believed her, at first, until Imp revealed to him the truth about Entrapta’s whereabouts and he came all the way to possibly the deadliest place on Etheria to look for her. He risked his life to save her even when all the odds pointed to her being dead. Hells, he almost died! The hours it took to patch him together still haunted her in her dreams.

_“En…trapta,”_ the way he uttered her name, his voice weak and barely audible, as he held on to her like she was something precious, curling around her like he never wanted to let her go again... It was the first time she has ever seen him cry, the sobs shaking his fragile body like they were determined to tear him apart. She heard it again later, on board of Prime’s ship as they knelt in the remains of the reconditioning tank, Hordak’s voice a moan against her lips, kissing her like she was the last breath of air keeping him from drowning. His eyes _(red red red)_ blazing with love, not a single trace of green among it, he was no longer a puppet dancing on his brother’s strings.

He was Hordak.

And then Prime had the audacity to try and take that away from him, not once but twice. He tried to take away all the wonderful things that made her lab partner into the amazing person he was, like all those quirks and imperfections that drew Entrapta to him were something disgusting.

_“Failures like you aren’t even supposed to exist; not ending your life was an act of mercy.” _

She tried to imagine her life without Hordak in it, but quickly threw the thought away because it was boring and, frankly, more than a little upsetting. Instead, she focused on the memory of Hordak’s fangs sinking into Prime’s throat, of the fountain of blood that followed and the choked scream that soon faded into silence. Good. Despite sounding so slimy, Horde Prime's voice grated against her nerves like sandpaper.

_“I would rather die than serve you again.”_ Hordak’s snarl filled her ears._ “You have used me like you used millions of those like me, abused me like I was nothing to you.”_

She would not let that monster lie but a single claw on her lab partner again. Of course, she knew that he was more than capable of looking after his own safety and absolutely deserved the vengeance they were going to extract as a little bonus to their research, but she wanted to have a little word with his brother, too.

They descended into the dungeons of Crypto Castle, which haven’t been used for some time due to the fact that, until recently, the majority of the castle’s population was made up of robots. Entrapta’s great-great-grandmother, Oshara, had them built during a brief but intense scuffle with Bright Moon. In contrast to the one “prison cell” in Glimmer’s kingdom, the ones in Dryl were equipped with magic dampeners, bindings that could keep a raging erumphant in place without as much as a creak, and a fully equipped cabinet of what younger Entrapta used to think were first some very sharp magic wands, then highly specialised tools, and then obscure medical equipment.

She knew better now.

(Though hey, some of the knives could be used as surgical tools in a pinch, which would only make their upcoming experiment easier.)

“Are you sure that you want to do this?” she asked, glancing up at her lab partner.

He nodded stiffly, face set, looking once more like the fearsome leader of the Fright Zone. “A part of me still remains loyal to him; a by-product of years of conditioning, I assume.” His hands balled up into fists, his voice a growl. “I want to kill it.”

They approached the cell at the very end of the corridor, guarded by two of Entrapta’s finest robots. The one on the right took a step forward, extending its hand. A panel on its palm slid off, revealing a fingerprint scanner.

“State your identity,” it requested.

After confirming that Entrapta and Hordak were, in fact, Entrapta and Hordak, the robots stepped away, allowing the Princess to type in the 25-digit combination that unlocked the door, which slid open with a hiss.

“So you return,” a hoarse voice from the depths of a cell echoed in the otherwise quiet corridor. “Have you, perchance, reconsidered keeping the Emperor of the Known Universe in captivity and chose to release me?”

“Mhm, nope,” she replied, pressing a switch on the wall.

The cell was flooded with white light, illuminating Horde Prime, all four eyes squinting against the light. He was suspended about a foot above the ground by the bindings which wrapped around his arms and legs, keeping him in a vertical position. He looked thinner, his torn and bloodied robes hanging off him like rags, and Entrapta realised that she didn’t remember ordering the robots to bring him food. She wasn't used to holding prisoners, who needed things like food to, you know, not die. Whoops.

“We are here to conduct some research,” Hordak placed his file on the table by the door (which he just finished locking) and approached another table, larger, moved against a wall for convenience’s sake. “I am honoured to inform you that you will be helping.”

Prime growled. “I will have no part in your schemes, filth.” Then, his voice turned gentler, more polite as he addressed Entrapta. “Your Grace, surely you must see that my younger brother is nothing but trouble and encouraging his fancies will end badly for all of us. As for his little…” his lips twisted, “trick which removed all the clones from under my control, I offer my humblest apologies and promise that this situation will be amended as soon as you release me from this cell. They will not bother you anymore.”

“I appreciate the concern, but no thanks,” Entrapta replied, flipping another switch. Immediately, the bindings shifted, moving along the rails built into the cell’s walls and ceiling to lie their prisoner on the table which Hordak had pushed into the centre of the room.

“A handy invention,” he mused, red eyes following the rails all around the room. “Your ancestors were ingenious.”

“Runs in the family,” she quipped, digging through her overalls for her recorder. Imp had taken to hiding it all around the castle, probably out of jealousy, so she had to keep it on her at all times, even at night. The little thing was with Emily and Helios, another clone (he/him, orange eyes, used to be a soldier but prefers studying everything with wings. Gets on surprisingly well with Swift Wind) in the west wing of the castle, either napping or listening to Helios talk about how the bodies of flying creatures have adapted to allow them to survive on high altitudes. As much as she loved it, it could be distracting at times.

Finally producing her trusty recorder, she clicked it on as Hordak moved to stand next to her.

“Experiment: Prime log, day 1.”

“Princess, what you are doing is highly unwise…”

“Shush,” she waved a tendril of hair at their prisoner. “I’m trying to record.”

Prime ignored her, annoyingly, and kept talking. “Your allegiance to my defective brother escapes my understanding, but I assure you that if it’s knowledge you seek, I will provide you with anything you wish to know as soon as you release me and I dispose of this insufferable,” his voice rose, gentle tone replaced by a hateful snarl, “despicable, worthless waste of cells that stands next to you, acting like it is not the greatest failure to ever come out of the Empire! To think that I was stupid enough to let it live but a second after extracting it from its tank.”

Entrapta pressed another switch and an electric current travelled up the bindings, making the former emperor cry out.

“Shut up,” her voice was calm, even. Even through the screaming and the noise absorbers set to 20%, she couldn’t not hear the hitch in Hordak’s breath, nor could she miss the way his whole body tensed up and his eyes widened, something in their crimson depths making her heart ache.

_“A part of me still remains loyal to him,”_ he had told her, _“a by-product of years of conditioning.”_ Even after the horrors he had suffered from his hands, the abuse verbal, physical and no doubt psychological, Horde Prime still conditioned her lab partner to feel ean motional attachment to him. It made her think of Catra and Scorpia, briefly, before her mind switched to her first conversation with Hordak about his older brother; how eager he was to prove himself, to return to his side as an equal and prove that, despite being a horrible, worthless defect, he was still worthy of his affections.

All that loyalty, that brilliant intellect and tactical expertise; the mind capable of creating an empire from scraps and thriving on a planet that must have appeared primitive to him. Horde Prime just threw it away like it was nothing.

Like Hordak was nothing.

He had once told her that clones didn't dream; that their brains weren't programmed to create dreams, but either he was lying or all those years on Etheria had altered his mind enough to unlock the function. His new sleeping quarters weren't too far from hers, and she passed by his door on her way to the lab whenever a particular idea kept her up at night. One fateful three in the morning, she heard a muffled sound she had hoped she would never have to hear again.

Sobbing.

She has never picked a lock so fast in her life, sliding the door open quietly to find him curled up in his bed, wings pressed tightly against his body like he was trying to protect himself from something.

From someone.

_"Please..."_ he whimpered out in a broken voice that tore her heart in two._ "Brother... forgive me... I will... I will not fail you again... I will be good... Please... I will not be... will not..."_

Her hypothesis was that Hordak's brain finally received the context necessary to recognise his brother's treatment as abuse and was processing it accordingly, the trauma making itself known through nightmares. Afterwards, she wondered if this was his first nightmare ever or if he chose to hide them from her for whatever reason. Fear? Shame? Possibly the latter, knowing his pride, but that didn't matter. Whatever the reason, the main cause behind her lab partner's misery was stretched out in front of her, helpless.

Entrapta lowered the mask over her face and saw red. She slid her free hand into Hordak’s, giving it a reassuring squeeze. _"I’m here. I’m with you. I will not abandon you.”_

He reciprocated, letting out a shuddering sigh before steeling himself.

“Shall we begin?” his voice was steadier now, ringing with assurance. He was even… ooooooohhh, he was smiling that evil smile now. It was her second favourite, right after the soft one. His eyes were glowing slightly, the same red as the lenses of her mask.

Entrapta smiled back behind the perpetual smile of her precious new mask, her hair already reaching for the tools set out on the table by the door: saws, knives, scissors, clamps and pincers, needles and retractors, as well as a couple of things from her granny Oshara’s arsenal. Oh, this was going to be _fun._

“Experiment: Prime log, day 1,” she repeated into the recorder, watching gleefully the understanding that dawned on their prisoner’s face as his anger turned into disbelief, then shock, and then the delicious, delicious fear. She brought down the noise absorption to 0%, wanting to hear everything with perfect clarity. “My dear lab partner and I are about to delve into a real treasure trove of biological information about his species. I can’t wait to get started!”

**Author's Note:**

> [climbs out of deadline hell] [throws this at you guys] [is immediately pulled back in]
> 
> So, this one turned out to be a bit longer than originally anticipated; I hope that you don't mind. Next up is, I believe, "A Research Endeavour." BOY I AM SO PSYCHED FOR THAT ONE YOU GUYS HAVE NO IDEA.
> 
> NOTE: If you guys can't visualise the mask well enough, I scribbled it on Discord a while ago.


End file.
